This invention relates generally to the containment of cryogenic fluids such as for storage or other purposes.
The storage or other containment of a cryogenic fluid involves the use of insulated vessels to reduce as much as possible the loss of some of the cryogenic fluid due to heat leak into the vessel. However, even with the use of the best insulation systems available, a significant portion of the contained cryogen will vaporize due to the heat leak, resulting in a pressure increase within the container to the point at which the vapor is vented to the atmosphere through safety valves. This loss of cryogenic fluid imposes a significant economic burden, especially for higher cost cryogenic fluids such as helium and neon which are used for such applications as superconductivity.
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a system for storing or otherwise containing a cryogenic fluid which can reduce or eliminate losses due to heat leak into the fluid.
The above and other objects, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of this disclosure, are attained by the present invention, one aspect of which is:
A method for providing refrigeration to a cryogenic vessel comprising:
(A) passing working fluid through a bed of magnetic particles and passing heat from the bed of magnetic particles to the working fluid to produce warmed working fluid and a cooled bed of magnetic particles;
(B) removing heat from the warmed working fluid to produce cooled working fluid;
(C) passing cooled working fluid through the cooled bed of magnetic particles to produce refrigeration bearing working fluid; and
(D) providing refrigeration from the refrigeration bearing working fluid to a cryogenic vessel which contains cryogenic fluid.
Another aspect of the invention is:
A cryogenic vessel comprising:
(A) a vessel having an outer shell defining a vessel interior;
(B) a first reservoir, a cold heat exchanger, a magnetic particle bed, said first reservoir being in flow communication with said cold heat exchanger, and said cold heat exchanger being in flow communication with said magnetic particle bed;
(C) a hot heat exchanger, a second reservoir, said magnetic particle bed being in flow communication with said hot heat exchanger, and said hot heat exchanger being in flow communication with said second reservoir; and
(D) said cold heat exchanger being in heat exchange relation with the vessel interior.